It is with great sadness that we bring you this news; our favourite Glaswegian rockers The Dykeenies, who we've been championing for a long time, have decided to call it a day and announced their split earlier...
" Folks.....unfortunately i have some bad news for all of you...we have decided to split up the dykeenies...words cannot desribe my emotions at the moment as im truly gutted weve had to call it a day...i personally will retire as my love affair with music will die with the dykeenies...i do not want to indulge in the reasons for the split and the decision was one that i personally was against.id like to thank all of u for supporting us over the years and i know we shoulda made more of a success of ourselves but the music industry was always against us and we never got our big break that we always felt we deserved...im so sorry to each and every one of you who has followed us over the years and im personally gutted that we will not be making music again together.please understand that we did give it our best shot and i only wish we coulda had one more last try but the band has decided otherwise...i will live off these memories n stories for the rest of ma life and im so sorry we couldnt make it happen...should u wish to contact the band then this page will remain up and running for the time being but i have no more i can say.sorry...John Dykeenie.x "
From everyone here at the Est.1987 HQ and indeed from all fans, this announcement is such a shame, but we wish Brian, Steven, Andrew and John the very best for the future, whatever they do.
Est.1987 caught up with the quartet back in October as the were embarking on a UK tour; here is a quick look back at what Andy and John had to say...
The new album “Canyon of Echoes” is out now. You recorded it over a number of years in three studios- did you prefer working in that way?
ANDY-To be honest “Canyon of Echoes” didn’t take that long to record or write. It has all been done in the past year, give or take a few tracks. Before “Canyon of Echoes” we had another album written and recorded ready to go and then Alan, the other guitar player, left the band. So we just shelved the album and started writing a brand new record.
JOHN- The original second album, because we had two guitarists, it was slightly more guitar orientated as opposed to synthesizers. When we wrote this original second album it was on the basis that we had two guitarists, we needed two. When Alan left there were twelve, thirteen songs that we literally couldn’t play; we couldn’t recreate what we had done without two guitarists. So, we had to go back to the drawing board. The second album that you hear now “Canyon of Echoes” is actually the third album.
Has your approach to writing changed?
A- I don’t think we have ever had a formal approach, it’s always been different. There are times I can remember, like “Sounds of The City” when we started writing that song. We were in the kitchen recording the first album in the back of Wales, in this big mansion, and I was sat on top of the table and I started playing that wee riff. Then instantly everyone in the room started playing along. It just shows you a stupid wee thing like that can spark a song. We had that song within two hours after that. Other songs have maybe been ideas for years and that’s how long they’ll take to figure out.
J- Some songs can take twenty minutes, others can take years. What we have done is generally write in threes. What can happen is we get a song to like twenty percent and then you hit a wall, so then it’s good to go on to a second song and you take that maybe an extra ten percent; then the third song even further. Then when you come back to the first song you’re fresh on it again. You build the songs up in groups of three.
A- “3” only because it’s got a bitchin’ bass sound, it’s my bit of limelight.
J- I’ve got two; “Fruit” and “Traps” from the new album
The name “Dykeenies” is from the film “Willow” – I’m guessing you’re big fans of the movie?
A- Massive fans. When we first came up with the name we didn’t realise that we had
all grown up with that movie.
J- We all knew what it meant. If you take forty people off the street and say the name “Dykeenies”, without mentioning us, you’re lucky if one person has seen that movie.
A- I’ll tell you the other name that came close; “Creepin’ Jesus”. Oh and “Free Beer”
J- Imagine that on a poster, sell out every show!
A- I always wanted another band to tour with us called “And Support”
To read the full interview and review from the tour click HERE.
